Heavy downpour fills Mumbai's Tansa lake to the brim

Mumbai: Following heavy rains in the catchment area, the Tansa lake, one of the six major reservoirs from which Mumbai receives its water, started overflowing this morning, officials said.

Tansa lake accounts for nearly 12 per cent of the city's water supply.

"The Tansa lake has started overflowing at 11 AM. The overflowing of this lake is a good sign for the future," Mumbai's deputy municipal commissioner Ramesh Bambale told PTI.

He, however, clarified that Mumbai may still have to wait for a few weeks before the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) revokes its decision of imposing 10 per cent water cut in the city.

"There is still time left before we revoke the water cuts imposed on the citizens. There are important lakes like Bhatsa and Middle Vaitarna that are yet to be filled completely.

Only once they reach a certain level, can we think of taking back our decision of imposing water cuts," Bambale added.

Earlier, a significant amount of rainfall in the catchment areas had caused the Modak Sagar dam and the Tulsi lake to overflow, which prompted the MCGM authorities to bring the water cuts down to 10 per cent from 20 per cent.

According to civic officials, so far water in the lakes that supply water to the city is 10.26 lakh million litres as compared to 11.83 lakh million litres in the same period last year, according to MCGM records.

Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a fresh forecast of heavy rains in some parts of Mumbai.

"We may see frequent spells of showers in some parts of the city and the suburbs and there may be heavy rainfall in some areas in the next 24 hours," an IMD official said.

According to the IMD, in a period of 24 hours starting 8.30 am yesterday, Santa Cruz recorded 27.3mm rainfall and Colaba registered 29.4 mm rainfall.